I_hatenazis

The main character, Kevin, is a very smart high school boy with a father who is showing rather obvious favoritism to his athletic older brother. The funny thing is that the father is hardly even aware of it, I've met people like that. Anyway, the boy discovers a crashed space ship with an alien pretending to be an injured U.S. pilot through the power of telepathy. The alien is rather nice and encouraging to the boy, seemingly because he likes him but also because he needs his help. Like all good episodes of the New Outer Limits you get involved with the characters and wish them well, you hope that the dad will stop being so blind, that the alien really ends up being benign, and that things work out well for the Kevin.

One thing that I really liked about the episode was that the main character, Kevin is not an idiot, I hate when characters blindly do stupid things. He is observant, he questions the alien when he notices something wrong. I really liked how this episode progressed and delivered at the end.

One last note, someone mentioned bad special effects, I watch the New Outer Limits for the character development and empathy. The special effects were good enough to deliver the story. For example, Inconstant Moon was a classic and well received because everyone was cheering for the couple, we weren't waiting for the Armageddon special effects to carry that story. At least this is how I see it.

I was surprised by the rather low 7.1 rating at the time I watched this episode, it was a very pleasant surprise.

Judd Nelson as Harry the kid is the protégé.

Gerry Chalk as Detective Frank Dayton is Tommy Lee Jones.

This was a decent episode of Outer Limits but not a great one for the following reason. A classic Outer Limits Episodes really gets me hooked into the fate of the characters. I did care about the characters but I dinged it because it was an obvious derivative of 'Men in Black'.

For better episodes of 'The Outer Limits' that are more original see ... 'The Light Brigade' (with Will Wheaton) for sci-fi setting. 'An Inconstant Moon' - a beautiful love story 'New Lease' - very underrated story about a scientist who gets a taste of his own medicine and an empathetic view of his beautiful and long suffering wife.

This is all in my most humble opinion of course.

Brian, who considers himself a liberal intellectual, is frustrated that no one bought his serious novel so he agrees with Stewie to write one of those cheesy self help books and it becomes an overnight sensation. In the last segment of the show he is interviewed by Bill Maher and Ariana Huffington in what has got to be one of the funniest TV segments of Family Guy ever written. For one thing, only Brian is animated so it reproduces Bill Maher's show to a T. Secondly, while Brian comes in with a swagger expecting a powder puff interview, Bill Maher uses his quick wit and humor to justifiably eviscerate the shallowness of Brian's book. This episode was actually well written because normally you might feel sorry for Brian because he is a nice guy but in the previous part of the show he was a diva and a total jerk to Stewie who was the one most responsible for his success. Therefore, Brian is getting his well deserved comeuppance, being dressed down by one of his liberal icons.

I have no idea why this episode is only rated 7.0 at the time of this review putting it in the lower half of Family Guy shows unless there are people that hate Bill Maher so much they are just dinging it. I am a conservative but I appreciate good humor when I see it and Bill Maher's material as he was interviewing Brian and re-creating his show for Family Guy was pure gold.

If you enjoy Brian's character at all then watch this episode and if you agree with me that it is better than a 7.0, please vote and give this episode its well deserved higher rating.